Jin could not figure out what was causing his uneasiness. They had left more than enough gang members behind to deal with any possible pursuers and Leo seemed to be quite sure they could continue in their way back to the safe cottage undisturbed. He considered the Black Riders being able to get rid of anyone who was stupid enough to track them as well, but still… That anxious urge didn´t ease up until Jin proposed to go back to make sure that they were not pursued anymore and there were no more enemies hiding, and Leo reluctantly let him go.
Kuro carried him back through the woods patiently and fast, sensing his master´s compulsion to rush. Jin knew he should have kept his senses on full alert, but he was weirdly distracted. So much that one low-hanging branch would hit him over the head, if he didn´t notice it in the last second and crouched in the saddle.
It took less time than Jin had expected, before he noticed the yellow lights in the otherwise already completely dark forest. He was afraid that he was too far from the spot where they had split up, but Jin´s nervousness was playing with his perception of time, so he actually found the rest of the gang quite quickly. The shining eyes of kerosene lanterns led him directly to the right place.
The gang was gathered in the small circle around a high tree, and only when Jin got to just a few meters from them, he noticed why – it seemed that one of the search groups succeeded. Nobody noticed Jin´s arrival, since they were all focused on the young man, to whom they decided to give a lesson in interrogation. Their captive cowering under the shower of hits seemed somehow familiar to Jin and he rode closer to have a better look.
Then Ryo and Patrick pulled the youngster up and the light fell on the handsome face, which features were contorted in pain. Jin´s heart skipped a beat.
After all those weeks of faint hopes and no solid proof that his dear friend was on his way south as he had promised, that place and that time were the least expected circumstances under which Jin had imagined too see Kazuya again.
"You won´t believe me even if I tell the truth!"
He could not mistake that desperate voice with anyone else´s.
Three Riders jumped at their young captive again and immobilized him, while Esler swung with his fist, definitely not for the first time, as Jin could see some blood and bruises on Kame´s face. He didn´t remember dismounting Kuro or the number of steps which took him to the group. He was just right there, grabbing Esler´s wrist, before the man could hit Kame again.
"What the…!" Esler turned to him angrily, but he was definitely not as angry as the older one of the Akanishi´s brothers at that moment.
Jin was looking forward to meet with the former bartender for eight damn-long weeks and now, when Kame was finally there, he found him beaten up? He faintly realized that the Riders, who stared at his appearance wordlessly, didn´t know Kame, and that was what held him back from punching the gunman right in his face.
"Hands off, Esler," he hissed resolutely.
The older man tried to slip from Jin´s grip, but didn´t succeed at all, which he noted with a surprise.
"Let him go," Jin repeated, gritting the words through his teeth. "Now."
Esler repaid Jin´s fierce stare for a while, the dark frown all over his forehead, before he finally stopped squeezing the young man´s hair and retreated. Only then Jin let the gunman´s wrist go as well, but remained on alert, ready to fight them all if necessary.
"What´s your fucking problem, Akanishi?!" Esler exclaimed more than upset.
The others observed him confusedly as well; just Ryo was guarding their captive with stabbing look, not paying attention to the rupture. Except the Riders, Jin felt the warm eyes upon himself, but he didn´t dare to repay Kazuya´s look, not yet. He had to deal with everybody else first.
"I won´t let you beat him," he stated firmly.
"Are you kidding, Jin?" Ryo snapped. "He´s one of those who were after us!"
"That can be surely explained," he reacted stubbornly. "Just let him talk and…"
"He´s only full of excuses and lies," Esler snorted.
"I´m quite sure he was telling you the truth," Jin objected.
"How can you say that, damn it?!" Ryo exclaimed impatiently. "Do you know him so well or what?!"
Jin took a breath, just shortly considering, what his next statement might cause: "Yes, I know him."
Everybody was baffled for a few tense seconds and Jin tried to use that silence for explanation: "He´s not going after Leo, it´s that…"
Esler, ignoring his talking completely, grabbed Jin´s coat and pulled him closer. Kame shifted in the grip of his captor uneasily, but Ryo just pressed him harder against a bole behind.
"Listen to me, kiddo," the gunman spoke in a dangerously cold voice. "I´m quite fed up with your nose sticking into everything. I´m not your little brother to trust every word you say!"
"I´m not asking for that," Jin reacted, forcing his hands to stay down along his thighs. "But I tell you the truth."
"How can we know that?" Todd asked aggressively, while Esler just stared into Jin´s eyes.
"He came along with that bounty hunter, Jin," Ryo added sharply. "There´s no way we would let him go just because you say so."
"I couldn´t say it better," Esler finished and pushed Akanishi away from himself roughly.
Jin quickly realized that this argument was a lost battle for him from the very start. Esler turned back to the young captive, who was observing their exchange of opinions anxiously.
"Tie him up," he ordered strictly. "It was enough of this foolish talk already. We will deal with him as Leo decides."
Jin moved forward and stood between Esler and Kame, in the last attempt to persuade them Kame was no threat.
"Then tie me up as well!" he requested fiercely.
"What? What is this nonsense now?" annoyed Esler snapped, while Ryo looked at Jin really curiously now.
"I trust this guy with my life!" Jin announced relentlessly. "If you take him as a captive, do the same with me then!"
The older man´s face went a little red at that moment, his eyes shining in rage: "Fine! As you wish!"
Jin didn´t move an inch, even though his last hope had just died. No matter the result he insisted on his decision and remained standing there motionless.
"But, Cullen… Jin is…" Ryo spoke up hesitantly.
"Silence!" Esler hushed any objections immediately. "He asked for it! He can explain it to his brother himself! I don´t care! Tie them both and let´s go!"
Before Jin managed to turn, Ryo and Patrick had already dragged Kame toward the horses, while Carl, Jack and Todd approached him not so happily.
"We should… take your guns," Jack was the one saying it, while the others eyed him carefully.
Jin sighed heavily and rather raised both hands in the air to allow them to unarm him. It was safer than take the revolvers himself, as they might have seen it as an attack…
*
At the first moment, when the Riders demanded the explanation of Jin´s interference, Kame almost thought that the older one would pretend not knowing him and make something up to keep their trust. He should have known his lover better…
They led him to the horses and the youngster with very dark hair, one of those beating him before, bound both Kame´s wrists together firmly and then he tied the end of the rope to Ukushi´s saddle. He didn´t say anything during the process, but Kame noticed his expression was rather curious than angry. Jin´s words made him doubt at least.
Shortly after that, they brought also Kuro and along with him Jin, with whom they dealt in the same way as with Kame and they started to get ready for the departure.
Kuro stepped a little forward, snorting impatiently, as if he could not wait to set off and he dragged his master right next to Kame like that, before he nudged Ukushi welcomingly.
"Damn…" Jin observed his tied up hands rather unhappily, before he turned his head to the younger one.
Suddenly, their situation didn´t seem so bad, when Kame could look in those dark eyes, with a warm shining deep inside of them. It still felt somehow unreal, to see Jin next to him, no matter how close he was. All things considered, they were damn lucky to find each other like this.
"Sorry for such a welcome, Kame," Jin apologized sighing heavily. However, a happy smile played on his lips, which the younger one repaid, feeling much more at ease than he should have been.
"I´m still alive, so I take it as a win," he replied, not being able to tear his eyes off that face he missed so much. Jin looked almost the same as he remembered, just his hair was longer. "But I have to say that this was not your most clever idea of all…" he added raising his tied hands up a little.
"It was the best I could come up with at the moment," the older one objected a little offended. "I didn´t really expect you to appear like that."
"Believe me, Jin, I did not expect that either," Kame assured him.
Right after that they both almost tripped over their own legs, when their ropes pulled them forward suddenly. Sinking in each other´s eyes, they didn´t even notice that the Riders were ready to go.
"Anyway, I´m glad you´re here," Jin said grinning happily, before Kuro was led more forward by Ryo and Jin stumbled behind him, while Ukushi led by other youngster followed them.
Considering the recent confrontation caused exactly by his presence, Kame was quite worried that he would bring only troubles to Jin, but still, he was unbelievably relieved to see the handsome gunslinger again as well.
***
Leo did not smoke often. Not only that Jane didn´t like it, the cigarettes also reminded him of his late father, whose clothes stank like a pile of dung behind an old saloon in the last years of the man´s miserable life. Only from time to time, he broke his habit, as during the serious conversation with his older brother, or as right now, when he was waiting for his Riders to come back.
A little orange light at the end of his handmade cigarette was the only bright spot on the spacious veranda of Oswald´s house; he wanted to keep his eyes accustomed to the dark, so that he could spot anyone who might pop out from the woods right away. With quickly passing hours, it was harder to suppress his worries and some upset ideas were filling up his mind.
He should have ridden back with Jin; he would have known what was going on at least. Leo hated sitting there in safety, while the others risked their lives for him. He was already fed up of being over-protected.
He was well-aware of their situation, and he also understood the reasons for his friends and especially Cullen being so stubborn in keeping him out of any unnecessary problems. He argued with them more than once because of their attitude, but they always insisted that they wanted to pay him back for what he had already done for them before. Leo could accept such reasoning, but he considered that so-called debt paid long ago already and he was determined to get back to the first line. They chose him for their leader, so he should act like one in everything.
The old hinges of the front door creaked and soft steps were heard, but Leo didn´t turn toward the intruder of his sulking watch; he knew who came out to check on him.
The warm hands touched his shoulders first, and then one of them moved to his open-necked shirt and caressed him across the bare skin tenderly.
"I´m sure they´ll be back soon," the woman´s voice behind his back said. Just the sound of it and that comforting touch eased Leo up a little. "Don´t trouble yourself so much."
Impulsively, Leo grabbed the slim fingers with his free hand and kissed them softly.
"You know I can´t help it," he sighed.
"You can try," there was a sign of amusement in Jane´s voice now. "They´re all grown up men and they can take care of themselves. Well, most of them are, at least."
Leo put down the cigarette butt and swiftly stood up, capturing the brunette in his arms, before she could retreat. Not that she would have even tried.
Jane was five years older than him, but she showed Leo more than once that their age difference mattered a little to her, as well as to him. They were of the same height and of the same opinions. He liked how she was able to put away her serious adult approach and behave as a girl, and she always said that he won her by behaving as an adult despite his young age. They both felt to be in harmony with the other and that was much more than what they ever had before with anyone else.
"Are you mocking the Black Riders again, dear?" he asked pretending to be reproachful.
"Oh, I would not dare," Jane replied winking at her lover and circled her arms around Leo´s neck.
"I´m almost tempted to believe you."
Jane leant closer and pecked Leo´s lips briefly.
"Only almost?" she asked playfully.
Capturing her offering lips in a passionate kiss helped Leo to push his pessimistic thoughts away quite quickly. They could not spend time together too often now, but he treasured those common moments all the more because of it. He didn´t say it aloud, but he was really glad when she decided to stay for a while and not go back to Leadville with other four gang members, whom he sent there to wait for the outcome of their ambush and new orders.
"Maybe I´ll reconsider it, if you try to persuade me harder," he stated running across her cheek with his thumb.
Jane´s smile shined even in the dark of night, promising him something more than only ´trying´. Before he could kiss her again, encouraged by that smile, their attention was attracted by the sounds of approaching horses.
"Finally," Leo breathed out, releasing Jane from his embrace.
The returning Riders were carrying a few lanterns, whose light was blinking among trees as they headed to the cottage. But soon the relief on Leo´s face exchanged its place with confusion, when the group got close enough for them to recognize each member.
Cullen, obviously not in a good mood, was riding in the lead, behind him Ryo and Jack, and they were both pulling the reins of two other horses – Jin´s stallion and a white mare, which Leo had never seen. What baffled him, and Jane as well, were two tied up men walking behind the animals, attached to them with the long ropes.
Leo stared at that strange arrival for a while, not capable of a word, before a dangerous shine found its place in his eyes.
"Call Koki," he uttered toward Jane, before he headed down the veranda, to meet the group.
*
For a half of their way back, Jin was trying to prepare himself for another confrontation, as he could clearly imagine that his little brother would not be pleased with the way of their return. And Leo seemed really unhappy at the moment they reached the space in front of Oswald´s house.
"What the hell is it now?!" Leo´s voice didn´t sound much welcoming, as he stomped to meet his gang. "Cullen! Would you be so kind and explain, why is my brother tied up?" the young leader snapped at the older man.
"I think that your dear brother is the master of explanations here," Esler snorted not very calmly either and dismounted his horse, as did the others.
Jin and Kame were both relieved they had finally reached their destination, as their feet were already aching from long and difficult march, but it didn´t seem their relief would last long. Ryo approached them, to untie the ropes from the saddles of their horses, while Esler pointed at Jin.
"I´m sure he has a lot to tell you," he stated caustically, literally piercing the air with his finger.
"I require the explanation from you first, Cullen," Leo reminded the older man in a cold tone.
"Fine," Esler made a few quick steps and grabbed Kame´s still-tied hands to drag him to Leo, which Jin, still waiting for Ryo to detach him from Kuro, observed very unsatisfied. "This youngster was following us along with Ralph Harvey. Just when we were interrogating him, your brother appeared, claiming that he is his friend," he informed the leader shortly.
"What?" baffled Leo glanced from Cullen to Kame and then to Jin, who attempted to get closer to them as well, but Ryo held him back strictly, even though he seemed to be really confused now.
"As I said!" Esler confirmed his statement angrily. "This is the kind of friends your brother has!"
"Leo, listen to me, I can…" Jin´s attempt to talk was interrupted by a surprised voice of another young gangster, who just joined their group outside.
"Holy crap! It is you!"
It was the blonde Rider, who pushed himself through Jack and Todd and remained standing right in front of Kame, who kept his careful silence till that moment, and now stared at the man with his eyes wide in surprise.
"Koki…?" a doubtful question was the first what Kame said since they had arrived.
"Handsome! You´re the last person I expected to see today!" Koki patted the younger´s shoulder whole-heartedly, totally ignoring all the shocked eyes around. Only then, the blonde Rider also noticed the ties over Kame´s wrists. "What the fuck is this?" he exclaimed.
"I have the same question, damn it!" Esler reacted furiously. "You know him as well?!"
"The hell, I do!" Koki snorted. "He´s the one who helped me to escape from the quarry! Why did you tie him up?"
"This is a little crazy…" Ryo standing next to Jin murmured, while he was trying to put the pieces of information together. Kame was the one who helped Tanaka to get away from Grenet and Cameron? How did he get there at all? Why would he risk meeting with Grenet again?
"Why?!" the older man huffed out. "Because he ganged up with Harvey, that´s why!"
"Eh?" Koki reacted not very comprehendingly.
"That´s bullshit!" Jin cut in sharply, shook Ryo´s hand off finally and rushed to the middle of their small circle.
"Still so persuaded about his good intentions?" Esler snapped at him.
"Yes, damn it!" Jin confirmed ferociously, already tired with doubts of the older man.
"Is it true?" Koki asked staring at Kame. "You and that hunter…?"
"No," the handsome captive shook his head immediately. "I just wanted to find…"
"Oh, shut up! I´ve heard enough of your excuses!" Esler shifted with the youngster quite violently.
"Let him go already, or I swear I will kick your ass!" Jin burst out furiously, with Ryo holding him back again, this time with both hands.
"My knees are shaking in fear," Esler grunted in response.
"I can´t believe that Kame would have…" Koki scrubbed his short hair helplessly.
"I saw them riding behind us together," Ryo reminded them frowning, fighting against Jin´s attempts to release himself.
"I can explain that," Kame tried again. "Seriously, guys, I meant no harm to any of you…"
"I bet that explanation will be worth of five bags of gold!" furious Esler reacted.
"Definitely more than your brain is worth of!" Jin hissed.
"Don´t think that you can…!" Cullen took a breath for a reply.
"Enough!" a deadly serious order shut all the mouths immediately. The echo of it disappeared in the woods and everything went quiet. "This is enough," Leo repeated not so loudly, but still with a voice sharp as blade.
Nobody dared to utter a word. The young leader´s eyes were piercing everybody through, one after another, including Jin, who wanted to speak again, but that look made him reconsider it. Then Leo focused his look only at Kame, who repaid it unwaveringly.
"Koki."
The blonde one looked at his leader, one big question on his face.
"Untie him."
Esler took a breath: "Leo…"
A raised hand silenced any other objections. Cullen gulped the next words down, frowning unsatisfied, while Koki grinned somehow relieved.
"Gladly, Chief," the blonde one stepped closer to Kame and with a quick movement, he cut the ties with his knife. The rests of the rope fell to surprised Kame´s feet. "No matter the circumstances, it´s good to see you again so soon," Koki remarked with a small smile playing on his lips.
The younger one was still too absorbed with the situation to be able of more than just a faint nod.
"Kame, right?" Leo asked, still looking only at the young stranger, when Koki stepped aside.
"Yes…" he nodded slowly.
"I want to talk with you. Come with me."
"Leo, I…." Jin tried to mingle into it again.
"Everybody else stays here," Leo interrupted firmly. "Everybody," he repeated, his eyes connecting with his brother´s and then Cullen´s. "Let him go," he said, when he noticed that the older man was still gripping Kame´s arm hard.
Esler was obviously against the idea and it took him a while before he obeyed the order.
"I will be right behind the door," he said anyway and Leo didn´t object.
The younger Akanishi just turned on his heels and headed to the house, not waiting for Kame, who remained standing there for a moment, before he realized that nobody was holding him back anymore, so he followed the Riders´ leader hesitantly, while Jin was watching their departure with upset feelings boiling inside of him.
*
"Sit."
Kame obeyed the short instruction and sat down on the chair, which Leo Akanishi placed in the middle of the cozy and warm room. Jin´s brother himself stood in front of the fireplace, and observed his seated guest closely. There was more curiosity than hostility in his eyes, but Kame didn´t let himself feel any relief because of that. No matter the unexpected wish of the younger Akanishi to talk, his position, and consequently also Jin´s, was still pretty bad.
They were now alone, but he could still faintly hear the excited voices of argument among Koki and that old man who interrogated him, and whom they called Cullen.
Kame used those few moments of silence, when Akanishi was just studying him without a word, to judge the other one as well. Leo was really very similar to Jin, even more than Kame had expected. But still, his features were different from the older brother in a way, which left no doubt in Kame that he would be able to tell them apart anytime. Despite his age, Akanishi´s eyes gave out an impression of an older man and his stance was firm and confident. And according to the reactions of other Riders, he had quite a respect among them.
"I really want to clear this misunderstanding up," Leo spoke finally, surprisingly calmly. "As quickly, and smoothly, as is only possible. So, I strongly recommend you to answer my questions truthfully."
Kame nodded, a little anxious now. Akanishi´s voice was not as deep as the one he knew so familiarly, but still it reminded him of Jin who was waiting outside, probably not less nervous than himself.
"Who are you and how did you meet my brother?"
Kame took a slow breath, gathering his thoughts, before he started talking, and he talked for a very long time…
*
For the first few seconds, Jin was just lost on words. He watched as his brother and then also Kame disappeared in the cottage. Shortly after, Oswald and Jane came out, closing the door behind them, and they joined the rest of the gang at the fireplace.
Then, after a furious exchange of opinions with the blonde gangster, Esler, more pissed than ever, settled close to one of the pillars on the veranda, and seemed to be willing to shoot down anyone, who might want to go inside or even come out. While Koki marched away from him, he didn´t give Jin more than one glance and grabbed both Kuro´s and Ukushi´s reins to lead them to the back of the property, to put them together with their horses. Just Ryo remained by Jin´s side and observed him hesitantly.
"Is he really your friend?" a quiet question tore Jin off his numbness and he turned to face the young gangster, who was kind of lacking his previous anger.
"I would have been dead not being for him," Jin answered seriously.
Ryo hesitated for a while, before he pulled Jin´s wrists closer to him and started to untie the rope carefully.
"Do you have any idea why would he go along with that bounty hunter?" he raised another question then.
"Well…" Jin thought about his response carefully. "I suppose he wanted to find us as soon as possible and that man was his chance for it. Kame was only using him. I didn´t make it very easy for him…" he sighed in the end.
"What do you mean?" Ryo asked curiously, as he pulled off the rope, and Jin massaged his wrists with quite a relief.
"It´s quite a long way down here from Montana… We had an agreement to meet up in Denver, but we somehow missed each other. I didn´t have a chance to let him know I was in Leadville; you stopped my telegram," he reminded caustically.
"So, you really don´t think that he would be after Leo?" Ryo asked, not commenting on Jin´s complaint.
"No way!" Jin snapped, upset again. "Kame offered to help me find him, but he doesn´t care about money at all!"
Ryo´s wide, surprised eyes told Jin that he maybe overreacted a little.
"Sorry… It´s just that all of this is…"
"Such a mess?" Ryo finished with a fleeting smile.
"Yeah…" Jin breathed out. "I really need to take a break. Can I sit somewhere without a guard or you´ll be my baby sitter now?"
This time, Ryo´s grin was more believable: "Just don´t go off Esler´s eyes, buddy. I guess he would have started shooting in this mood of his…"
*
"So, the common enemy made you two friends, huh?" Leo sitting on the window sill noted after Kame finished his narration.
"It can be said like that," he admitted.
"Then when Jin decided to search for me, you followed him later. And on the way here, you met Harvey in Denver and agreed to cooperate with him to find us more easily, because you had no new message from my brother."
"Exactly. I never intended to help that hunter to achieve that reward. It was the very opposite – I wanted to prevent him from catching you. But I know it´s hardly believable in this situation."
"All right, it´s more clear to me now," Leo stated slowly. "But still… I don´t understand why are you here?"
Kame shifted in the chair a little, licking his dry lips. He would have really welcomed a glass of properly cooled beer right now. Leo let him talk and listened to him carefully, but his questions and sharp stare had not a very calming effect on him.
"We agreed that once the Blackfeet Tribe will be moved, I will follow Jin to help him find you," he summarized his previous words.
"Yes, but why?" Leo insisted, narrowing his eyes. "Why do you even care?"
Something bitter stuffed Kame´s throat, but he gulped it down, before it could turn out into a nasty response. Leo had no clue about what the two of them had been through…
"That´s what friends do – helping each other, don´t you think?" he asked stiffly.
"Well… You two know each other for like what? Five months? It just surprises me you would be willing to do so much for my brother."
Kame stood up slowly, repaying the younger man´s look.
"It´s not about for how long we are friends. I understand that you don´t trust me, Leo," he stated firmly. "I´m not very fond of robberies and such stuff, but I swear I´m not after you or the rest of the gang. I´d have never done anything what would hurt Jin. I´m on his side and that means I´m on your side as well."
The younger Akanishi observed Kame for a very long moment after this statement, not showing what he thought about it, but something else than suspicion appeared in his eyes finally. Then he straightened up and came closer.
"I believe you, Kame," Leo said seriously. "I know my brother and he doesn´t trust anyone easily. But he has faith in you. Moreover, you saved Koki, and I owe you for that. Basically, that´s enough for me…"
"Thank you," Kame breathed out in relief.
"But…" the Rider´s leader emphasized then. "That doesn´t mean it will be enough for the rest of us. In this case, it cannot be only me to decide about you."
"Meaning?" Kame asked fully on alert again.
"We will talk with the others first, too," Leo replied relentlessly. "Then we will see."